During a Jeopardy! broadcast on Monday, November 3, fans were treated to a heart-warming moment when a contestant used their Final Jeopardy answer to pay tribute to host Alex Trebek. The contestant, Dhruv Gaur, passed on the chance to correctly guess the final answer and instead wrote a message to Trebek.
“We love you, Alex!”, the message read.
“That’s very kind of you. Thank you,” an emotional Trebek said as he held back tears.
Boston news anchor Liam Martin shared a video of the touching moment on social media in a clip that quickly made the rounds.
After the show aired, Dhruv Gaur explained his decision to honor the longtime Jeopardy! host, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March.
“Sorry for west coast spoilers, but I’m really glad I got the opportunity to say to Alex what everybody at the tournament was thinking. For context, Alex had just shared with us that he was reentering treatment for pancreatic cancer. We were all hurting for him so badly,” Gaur wrote on Twitter. “When Final Jeopardy came up, I could’ve tried to puzzle it together, but really, just kept thinking about Alex, and thought he should know. I’m just very grateful I got the opportunity to say what I know everyone was thinking. Sending all the love.”
Trebek, who formerly hosted shows like Classic Concentration, High Rollers, and Battlestars, has been the host of Jeopardy! since 1984. Trebek announced his diagnosis to the world with an emotional video.
“Hi everyone, I have some news to share with all of you and it’s in keeping with my longtime policy of being open and transparent with our Jeopardy! fan base. I also wanted to prevent you from reading or hearing some overblown or inaccurate reports regarding my health. So therefore, I wanted to be the one to pass along this information,” Trebek said.
“Now, just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Now normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m going to fight this, and I’m going to keep working. And with the love and support of my family and friends and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease. Truth told, I have to! Because under the terms of my contract, I have to host Jeopardy! for three more years! So help me. Keep the faith and we’ll win. We’ll get it done. Thank you.”
